S.F. ranked No. 2 most dense city in U.S.
Kale Williams
. . . Indexed by looking closely at four factors - development density, land use mix, street accessibility and activity centering - the city by the bay had a score of 194.28, just a smidge behind list-topper New York, which scored 203.36. And for those keeping tight score, San Francisco actually outscored New York in both the land-use mix and activity-centering categories measured in the study.
Other notable Bay Area cities on the list include San Jose, ranked 24th in the country, and Oakland right behind it at No. 25.
Beyond avoiding deadly car accidents, the benefits reaped by people who live in cities with higher density include lower rates of obesity and diabetes, as well as lower blood pressure on average, the report said.
It's also cheaper to get around in cities that are more compact. The study found that people who live in dense areas have more transportation options, many of them cheaper than driving or even free . . . .
Children born in dense cities are more likely to climb the economic ladder as well, the study found. For every 10 percent increase in a city's index score there is a nearly 5 percent increase in the likelihood that a child born into the bottom 20 percent of income distribution will ascend to the top 20 percent.
Gabriel Metcalf, executive director at SPUR, an urban policy nonprofit in San Francisco, said the city has done a good job planning for growth, but the job is far from complete.
"We've protected our walkable street grid and we've done a good job of removing some of the highways," he said. "We've been really good in some of the neighborhood planning efforts."
Among the planning successes, he said, are the reconfiguration of the intersection at Market and Octavia streets and the Transbay Transit Center.
But, unsurprisingly, housing still remains a tremendous hurdle that the city has yet to clear, Metcalf said.
"There are appropriate ways to create new housing," he said. "For downtown, that might mean high-rises. When you get to the outer neighborhoods, we need to be looking at secondary housing options like in-law units."
Coincidentally, the city's Board of Supervisors addressed that very subject Tuesday, passing legislation that, if eventually made final by the mayor, would authorize more in-law units. Meaning more (official) density . . . .